Collapsible Container

ABSTRACT

A container including a plurality of material bands each having a thickness that is less than adjacent areas of the container, the plurality of material bands extending along a base and a body of the container. The plurality of material bands are configured as folding points of the container. The container is configured to collapse along the plurality of material bands such that at least two dimensions of the container are 5 cm or greater. The base is configured to collapse along the plurality of material bands to have a generally flat body and a generally flat base that is 1.4 times wider than a pre-collapsed diameter of the base.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/295,263 filed on Dec. 30, 2021, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a collapsible container configured to be recycled.

BACKGROUND

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.

As a result of environmental and other concerns, plastic containers, more specifically polyester and even more specifically polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers, are now being used more than ever to package numerous commodities previously supplied in glass containers. Manufacturers and fillers, as well as consumers, have recognized that PET containers are lightweight, inexpensive, recyclable and manufacturable in large quantities.

Blow-molded plastic containers have become commonplace in packaging numerous commodities. PET is a crystallizable polymer, meaning that it is available in an amorphous form or a semi-crystalline form. The ability of a PET container to maintain its material integrity relates to the percentage of the PET container in crystalline form, also known as the “crystallinity” of the PET container. The following equation defines the percentage of crystallinity as a volume fraction:

${\%{Crystallinity}} = {\left( \frac{\rho - \rho_{\alpha}}{\rho_{c} - \rho_{\alpha}} \right) \times 100}$

where ρ is the density of the PET material; pa is the density of pure amorphous PET material (1.333 g/cc); and pc is the density of pure crystalline material (1.455 g/cc).

Container manufacturers use mechanical processing and thermal processing to increase the PET polymer crystallinity of a container. Mechanical processing involves orienting the amorphous material to achieve strain hardening. This processing commonly involves stretching an injection molded PET preform along a longitudinal axis and expanding the PET preform along a transverse or radial axis to form a PET container. The combination promotes what manufacturers define as biaxial orientation of the molecular structure in the container. Manufacturers of PET containers currently use mechanical processing to produce PET containers having approximately 20% crystallinity in the container's sidewall.

Thermal processing involves heating the material (either amorphous or semi-crystalline) to promote crystal growth. On amorphous material, thermal processing of PET material results in a spherulitic morphology that interferes with the transmission of light. In other words, the resulting crystalline material is opaque, and thus, generally undesirable. Used after mechanical processing, however, thermal processing results in higher crystallinity and excellent clarity for those portions of the container having biaxial molecular orientation. The thermal processing of an oriented PET container, which is known as heat setting, typically includes blow molding a PET preform against a mold heated to a temperature of approximately 250° F.-350° F. (approximately 121° C.-177° C.), and holding the blown container against the heated mold for approximately two (2) to five (5) seconds.

Containers of less than 5 cm in two dimensions have traditionally been considered unrecyclable or detrimental to recycling due to their size. It would be advantageous to recycle such containers. The present disclosure advantageously provides for recyclable containers having at least two dimensions of greater than 5 cm after being collapsed flat by a crushing process, for example. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure provides numerous additional advantages and unexpected results as well.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure includes a container with a base, a body extending from the base, and a finish defining an opening. A longitudinal axis of the container extends through an axial center of each of the opening, the body, and the base. A shoulder is between the finish and the body. A plurality of material bands each have a thickness that is less than adjacent areas of the container. The plurality of material bands extend along the base and the body. The plurality of material bands are configured as folding points of the container. The container is configured to collapse along the plurality of material bands such that at least two dimensions of the container are 5 cm or greater. The base is configured to collapse along the plurality of material bands to have a generally flat body and a generally flat base that is 1.4 times wider than a pre-collapsed diameter of the base.

The present disclosure further includes a container having a base, a body, and a heel between the base and the body. A finish defines an opening of the container. A longitudinal axis of the container extends through an axial center of each of the opening, the body, and the base. A shoulder is between the finish and the body. A neck extends from the shoulder to the finish. A plurality of material bands each have a thickness that is less than adjacent areas of the container. The plurality of material bands extend along each of the base, the heel, the body, the shoulder, and the neck. The container is configured to collapse along the plurality of material bands such that at least two dimensions of the container are 5 cm or greater.

DRAWINGS

The drawings are for illustrative purposes only of select embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a side view of an exemplary container in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the container of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is another perspective view of the container of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the container of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5 illustrates the container of FIG. 1 in a collapsed configuration; and

FIG. 6 is an exemplary graph showing differences in applied force required to collapse relatively thin material bands of the container of FIG. 1 versus portions of the container adjacent to the material bands, which have a standard thickness.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Containers of less than 5 cm, or about 5 cm, (2 in. or about 2 in, such as 1.96 in.) in at least two dimensions after being collapsed are likely to be considered unrecyclable or detrimental to recycling based on their size per the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR). Due to how material is currently handled at municipal recycling facilities (MFRs), these containers are often lost through small holes intended to remove broken glass from the plastic stream. A large percentage (25% or more) of 1.2 billion fully recyclable 50 mL spirits containers (˜6.5M lbs.) and a percentage of billions more pharmaceutical and other types of containers are lost at MRFs in the United States annually. The difference between these containers being lost versus being recycled could mean a difference of a hundred-thousandths of an inch or less in their design dimensions.

FIGS. 1-5 illustrate an exemplary container 10 in accordance with the present disclosure. The container 10 may have any suitable size and capacity. For example, the container 10 may have a capacity of 50 ml or greater. The container 10 may be made of any suitable polymeric material. Any suitable virgin and recycled polymers may be used, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene, and the like, for example. Any suitable percentage of the virgin and recycled polymers may be included. For example and apart from the PET of the master batch, up to 75% of the container may be the virgin polymer, and up to 100% of the container may be the recycled polymer.

The container 10 includes a finish 12, which defines an opening 14 of the container 10. At an outer surface of the finish 12 are threads 16. The threads 16 are configured to cooperate with any suitable closure for closing the opening 14. The threads 16 are between the opening 14 and an upper flange 18. Below the upper flange 18 is a lower flange 20. The upper flange 18 and the lower flange 20 are optional.

Below the flange 18 is a neck 22. Extending from the neck 22 is a shoulder 24. The shoulder 24 extends to a body 30 of the container 10. The body 30 may have any suitable size and shape. For example, the body 30 may be round as illustrated. The body 30 extends towards a base 40. Between the body 30 and the base 40 is a heel 32. The base 40 may be a flexible or rigid base. The base 40 may be configured to flex during filling and capping of the container 10 to absorb vacuum within the container 10.

The container 10 further includes a plurality of material bands 50, which are relatively thinner portions of the container 10. The material bands 50 are formed integral with the rest of the container 10, and are thus not separate pieces of the container 10. The material bands 50 each have a thickness that is less than adjacent areas of the container 10. For example, each of the plurality of material bands 50 may be about 58%-75% thinner than adjacent areas of the container 10.

Any suitable number of material bands 50 may be included. For example and as illustrated, the container 10 can include six material bands 50 spaced apart evenly around the container 10. More than six or less than six material bands 50 may be included. And the material bands 50 need not be evenly spaced apart.

The material bands 50 may be present at the base 40, the heel 32, the body 30, the shoulder 24, and/or the neck 22. The material bands 50 may extend continuously from the base 40, across the heel 32, along the body 30, across the shoulder 24, and to the neck 22. Alternatively, the material bands 50 may extend discontinuously. At least across the body 30, the material bands 50 extend parallel to a longitudinal axis Y of the container 10. The longitudinal axis Y extends through a radial center of the base 40, through a center of the body 30, and through a center of the opening 14. At the base 40, the material bands 50 may extend partially or entirely across the base 40. At the base 40, the material bands 50 extend perpendicular to the longitudinal axis Y. In some configurations, two or more of the plurality of material bands 50 may intersect at the base 40, or at any other suitable location about the container 10.

The plurality of material bands 50 are configured as folding points of the container 10 to facilitate collapsing of the container 10 for recycling. The container 10 is configured to be collapsed along two or more of the material bands 50, as illustrated in FIG. 5 for example. Collapsing the container 10 at two or more of the plurality of material bands 50 results in the container 10 having at least two dimensions of 5 cm or more, which facilitates recycling. For example and as illustrated in FIG. 5 , the collapsed container 10 has a length and width of 5 cm or more. In the collapsed configuration of FIG. 5 , the container 10 has a generally flat body 30, and a generally flat base 40 that is 1.4 times wider than the pre-collapsed diameter of the base 40 illustrated in FIG. 4 .

The container 10 is formed by injection molding a preform. The preform has a core geometry configured to form the plurality of material bands 50. Because the material bands 50 are thinner than portions of the container 10 adjacent thereto, and may be the thinnest portion of the container 10, less force is required to bend, fold, collapse, or compress the container at the material bands 50, as illustrated in the graph of FIG. 6 . FIG. 6 is a graph of the amount of force required to displace/compress the container 10 at the material bands 50 vs. the portions of the container 10 adjacent to the material bands 50. The material bands 50 thus facilitate collapsing of the container 10 to the configuration of FIG. 5 , which facilitates recycling because at least two dimensions of the collapsed container 10 are 5 cm or more. Having at least two dimensions of 5 cm or more facilitates processing of the container 10 during recycling.

It has been determined that round containers 10 of the present disclosure, when collapsed/crushed (per APRs prescribed crushing method), may have a width of approximately 1.4 times that of their original diameter. Container sidewall and base geometry can be configured to maximize the height/length dimension by about 140% of the original container in at least one direction. The present disclosure advantageously allows a large number of currently unrecycled containers to be recycled.

The present disclosure advantageously includes the following features, for example:

-   -   1) A diameter of the base 40 of about 3.6 cm (1.429″)×1.4=5.08         cm (2 in) to achieve a minimum of about 5 cm (two inches) when         adequately collapsed/crushed.     -   2) Containers 10 are blow molded from injection molded preforms         having core geometry or preferential heating that creates thin         vertical material bands 50 configured to promote efficient         collapse, maximizing both radial and height/length dimensions         via a crushing process.     -   3) A plurality of thinned axial material bands 50 around the         perimeter of the container 10 to facilitate maximum         collapsed/crushed width.     -   4) Containers 10 that have a capacity of about 50 mL or more.     -   5) Containers 10 configured to contain spirits.     -   6) Pushup geometry of the base 40 configured to push down and         out during collapsing/crushing to maximize the height, as         illustrated in FIG. 5 .

The present disclosure incorporates core geometry of preform injection mold tooling to deliver intentional folding points 50 (e.g., thinned material bands 50) in the final blow molded container 10 in both the vertical axis of the area of the body 30, and can also include adjacent and connecting horizontal fold points 50 across heel 32, pushup/base 40 geometry and shoulder 24 of the container 10. This can also be achieved by employing localized heating of the preform injection mold tooling (preferential heating) to deliver intentional folding points 50 (e.g., thinned material bands 50) in the final blow molded container in both the vertical axis of the container 10 in the body area 30, and can also include adjacent and connecting horizontal fold points 50 across heel 32, pushup/base 40 geometry, and shoulder 24 of the container 10. The thin material bands 50 can be at the blow mold parting lines, or at other points on the diameter of the container 10. The plurality of material bands 50 must include at least two bands 50 and can include any number of bands 50 to promote efficient collapsing. The bands 50 can be equidistant (e.g. 180 degrees apart, for example) or non-equidistant. The plurality of material bands 50 can be a 6-10 mm wide strips having a thickness that is about 58-75% less than the adjacent material thickness.

The present teachings include the featured set forth above and throughout this application to provide greater plastic container recyclability rates of small packages. The present teachings apply to ambient filled, round, oval and square packages, produced by one-step, extrusion, IBM, and two step blow molding.

The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.

Example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and “having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.

When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms when used herein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments.

Spatially relative terms, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. Spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A container comprising: a base; a body extending from the base; a finish defining an opening, a longitudinal axis of the container extends through an axial center of each of the opening, the body, and the base; a shoulder between the finish and the body; and a plurality of material bands each having a thickness that is less than adjacent areas of the container, the plurality of material bands extending along the base and the body, the plurality of material bands configured as folding points of the container; wherein the container is configured to collapse along the plurality of material bands such that at least two dimensions of the container are 5 cm or greater; and wherein the base is configured to collapse along the plurality of material bands to have a generally flat body and a generally flat base that is 1.4 times wider than a pre-collapsed diameter of the base.
 2. The container of claim 1, wherein the container has a capacity of about 50 ml or greater.
 3. The container of claim 1, wherein each one of the plurality of material bands has a thickness that is about 58%-75% less than the adjacent areas of the container.
 4. The container of claim 1, wherein at least two of the plurality of material bands extend along the body parallel to the longitudinal axis.
 5. The container of claim 1, wherein the plurality of material bands extend continuously from the base, across a heel, across the body, and to the shoulder.
 6. The container of claim 1, wherein the container is blow molded from an injection molded preform having core geometry configured to form the plurality of material bands.
 7. A container comprising: a base; a body; a heel between the base and the body; a finish defining an opening, a longitudinal axis of the container extends through an axial center of each of the opening, the body, and the base; a shoulder between the finish and the body; a neck extending from the shoulder to the finish; and a plurality of material bands each having a thickness that is less than adjacent areas of the container, the plurality of material bands extending along each of the base, the heel, the body, the shoulder, and the neck; wherein the container is configured to collapse along the plurality of material bands such that at least two dimensions of the container are 5 cm or greater.
 8. The container of claim 7, wherein the container has a capacity of about 50 ml or greater.
 9. The container of claim 7, wherein each one of the plurality of material bands has a thickness that is about 58%-75% less than the adjacent areas of the container.
 10. The container of claim 7, wherein the plurality of material bands are configured as folding points of the container.
 11. The container of claim 7, wherein at least two of the plurality of material bands extend along the body parallel to the longitudinal axis.
 12. The container of claim 7, wherein the plurality of material bands are evenly spaced apart.
 13. The container of claim 7, wherein at least two of the plurality of material bands extend along the base perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
 14. The container of claim 7, wherein at least two of the plurality of material bands are adjacent.
 15. The container of claim 7, wherein at least two of the plurality of material bands intersect.
 16. The container of claim 7, wherein the plurality of material bands extend continuously from the base, across the heel, across the body, and to the shoulder.
 17. The container of claim 7, wherein the plurality of material bands extend discontinuously from the base, across the heel, across the body, and to the shoulder.
 18. The container of claim 7, wherein the container is blow molded from an injection molded preform having core geometry configured to form the plurality of material bands.
 19. The container of claim 7, wherein the container is configured to collapse along the plurality of material bands to have a generally flat body and a generally flat base.
 20. The container of claim 7, wherein the base is configured to collapse along the plurality of material bands to a width that is 1.4 times greater than a pre-collapsed diameter of the base. 